


where you become (what you become)

by wildforce71



Category: Power Rangers
Genre: But it's literally true, Found Family, Gen, I know that sounds weird, I think Jayden's in it the most, I'm quite proud of this really, Mystery ranger, Original Team, Team as Family, There's a bit of philosophy in here too, They don't know who the ranger is, they're not the main characters though, various older Rangers
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-03-24
Updated: 2020-04-27
Packaged: 2021-02-28 20:54:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,228
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23303467
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wildforce71/pseuds/wildforce71
Summary: These are the streetsWhere the story's toldThe truth unfoldsDon't want to be a heroJust an everyday man
Kudos: 1





	1. Chapter 1

_INT HÁLÀ CITY - Greenhouse 4 - Night_

_Slow pan through the greenhouse. Various plants are flourishing on racks and in trays under carefully positioned sunlights. Some are fruiting, some in flower, some only seedlings, but all are obviously cared for._

_Caption: Hálà City, Pacific Ocean, 2040_

_Camera focuses on a hanging tomato plant. The tomatoes are red and ripe. The camera focuses on one particular tomato._

_A HAND reaches into frame, out of focus, touches the tomato lightly._

_The camera refocuses on the HAND, then, behind it --_

_MEREDITH_

_Broad faced, broad shouldered, dark hair and eyes, honeyed Australian accent. Smiling fondly at the plant as his fingers skim over the tomatoes. He knows what he’s doing, movements quick and assured._

_MEREDITH  
Are you narrating again, CARLY?_

_Camera shakes to indicate head shaking 'no'._

_“Are you sure? Because you’re holding your hands up like a camera. But you don’t have a camera.”_

Carly sighed, boosting herself up to sit on the counter he was working on. “The one flaw in my otherwise brilliant master plan.”

He pushed a couple of pots aside to make room for her. “Apart from the flaw that that counter is filthy, and you’re going to stain your clothes.”

“I’m coming from a lesson with one of the guest lecturers, these clothes are going in the incinerator anyway.” She tilted her head to study the plant. “They’re coming along.”

“Pasta and tomato sauce later this week. Did you at least narrate nice things about me?”

“No. Why would I do that? You might get a swelled head.”

“Because you narrated nice things about me, inside your head, where I can’t possibly tell.”

“Exactly.” She watched him for a minute more. “How are you feeling?”

“Fine. How are you feeling? Who was the guest?”

“Sensei Stewart.”

“That shouldn’t have been so bad. He’s usually pretty ok. At least, he has been since he’s been sure we weren’t going to take his record.”

“I guess he was in a bad mood today. How are you feeling?”

He rolled his eyes at her. “I told you -”

“I know.” Carly nodded, swinging her legs. “It’s probably just an asteroid. They usually are.”

“Probably. We shouldn’t really be worried.”

“Khotsu will tell us if it’s anything else.”

“They will.”

“And we’ve been training for ten years. If it is the Kimered, we can fight back.”

“We can.”

Carly studied him, eyes narrowed. “You’re not worried.”

“No.”

“You already believe all that.”

He concentrated on the last of the tomato plants. “Yes.”

“Then why did you let me say it all?”

Meredith looked at her, smiling ruefully. “You’re wearing your ring backwards.”

She looked down at her hand in surprise. “I’m what?” Her ring’s band was visible on the outside of her little finger; turning her hand over, she saw the stone, nestled neatly at the base of her finger.

“You’re wearing it backwards, so you can fiddle with the Crystal,” Meredith said, matter-of-fact. “You do it when you’re nervous.”

“No I - do I?”

“Yes. You always have. You didn’t know?”

“No…” She rubbed her thumb over the rose quartz thoughtfully. The movement certainly felt familiar.

“The very first time I met you, you were messing with it. I was sure you knew about it. We all do it.”

“I’ve never noticed the others do it either! You see? This is why you’re the leader.”

He smiled a little, turning away to wash his hands. “Exactly. That’s why I get the big bucks. Whatever bucks are. To be fair to you, though, it’s not like you’re looking for the same movement in all of us. Me playing with mine looks pretty different from Clive playing with his.”

“But you noticed.”

“Well. That’s my job, isn’t it.”

She hopped off the table, brushing absently at her pants. “Are you done here? Ran’s been baking.”

“Oh? What is it this time?”

“Japanese something or other cookies. She says they’re very healthy.”

“Best not to disappoint her, then. Let’s go.”

Meredith and Carly took their time. The house they’d recently moved into was near the centre of the city, as far from the piers as possible; Captain had made it a condition of their moving in together, out of the dorms. Ran’s family were nearby, but Meredith was fairly sure all the rest of the neighbours were actually not-very undercover security. He mostly ignored them.

Carly kept twisting her ring around. He was sorry about that; he hadn’t meant to make her feel self-conscious about it, but he’d genuinely thought she knew. Maybe he wasn’t being fair, though. It was much easier for her to do it unconsciously than for him to.

Clive was working on some kind of box in the front yard. Carly continued inside; Meredith crouched beside Clive, watching. “What’s this one, Clive?”

“It’s a television,” Clive told him, busy trying to pry the back off.

“It can’t be a television, look how big it is. Look how _deep_ it is!”

“No, this is really what they used to look like.” 

“What did they need all that space for?”

The back came off; Clive rocked backwards with it and Meredith steadied him for a moment, helping him set it aside. They both peered into the back of the television at the mess of wires, cogs and other parts Meredith didn’t have a hope of identifying.

“That’s what they needed it for, Mere,” Clive said reverently. “Look at that.”

“Is it going to be able to pick anything up? Didn’t the programs used to travel through a wire?”

“They did. And it won’t. But that’s not the point.”

“What’s the point, then?”

Clive grinned at him, eyes bright. “The point is in making something that used to be beautiful, beautiful again, Mere.”

“Oh, I see. How foolish of me, thinking that the point of fixing a television is to use it as television.”

Clive grinned, turning back to his work. Meredith pushed back to his feet. “Apparently Ran baked. Want me to bring you one?”

“Just leave it in the kitchen,” he said, voice muffled as he climbed almost inside the cabinet. Meredith left him to it, heading inside.

The others were gathered in the kitchen. He automatically went to wash his hands again; Ran was always strict when she baked, and she wouldn’t believe he’d washed unless she saw him do it. “Afternoon, Ran. Maria.”

“I hear we’re getting tomatoes soon,” Ran said cheerfully. “Need any help picking them?”

“No,” he said quickly, spinning to look at her. “No, I can manage.”

She smiled. “If you’re sure, Lord.”

“Not my name,” he said with a sigh. He didn’t expect it to sink in, it never did for either of them, but they always seemed disappointed when he didn’t point it out.

“Last time you helped to pick we ended up with blueberry paste,” Maria reminded Ran, filching a cookie while she wasn’t looking. “McKay likes his plants whole and in one piece.”

“The blueberry plants were perfect,” Ran defended herself.

“Sorry. He likes his plant produce in one piece.”

“I just really hate the rations,” Meredith said, drying his hands. “Fresh fruit is much nicer.”

“We all know you just like feeling clever because you’ve managed to grow something,” Carly told him.

“The machines do most of it. It’s not really proper gardening.”

“Shame there’s no real green spots here in Hálà,” Maria said with a sigh, filching another cookie.

“There’s curry powder in that one,” Ran told her. “It’s just the price we pay for being top of the class.”

“Having curry powder in things?”

“Lack of green spaces. They built this whole place for us, but they couldn’t put in any green spaces.”

“There are green spaces,” Meredith protested. He reached for one of the cookies, pausing for Ran’s nod before biting into it.

“Those are trees in pots. They’re not proper green spaces.”

“Get used to it,” Maria advised her. “If this really is the escape pod coming at us, we’ll be moving to Khotsu, and there really aren’t any green spaces up there.”

“At least I’ll have my own bathroom,” Ran pointed out.

“I keep offering to switch,” Meredith said, not really expecting them to even listen.

“And live in a boy’s bedroom? Besides, you share your bathroom with Clive. That’s even worse than sharing with Maria.”

“I’ll swap with you,” Carly suggested.

Ran eyed her, shared a look with Maria, and shook her head. “You keep yours, Carly. Maria and I don’t mind.”

“I do love these conversations,” Meredith said loudly. “Also these cookies. Might be your best yet, Ran.”

“Oh, good. I was afraid I’d put too much seaweed in, but if you like it…”

Meredith froze for just a second before taking another bite. “If’goo,” he assured her. Compared to some of the things she’d tried…

Ran grinned at him, turning to chat to Maria. He finished his cookie and got a drink. Honestly, there was no strange taste, but once he knew what was in it…

His WrisTech beeped. Everyone in the room froze, staring at it.

Meredith flicked his wrist to activate it. “Captain?”

“We have no update,” Captain said, obviously aware that the others were listening. “But I do need to talk to you, Meredith. Can you come in, please?”

“Yes sir, I’m on my way.” He smiled around at the others, flicking his WrisTech off again. “I’ll see you guys in a bit. Save me some cookies, Ran.”

“Want someone to go with you?” Maria asked.

“No. It’s probably about the next guest lecturer, since Carly seems to have gone off Sensei Stewart. Don’t worry.” 

He headed out before they could argue, waved goodbye to Clive, and pretended not to notice the two random neighbours who fell into step about half a block behind him. He headed for the centre of Hálà and the Captain’s office.

Captain was dealing with some of the endless paperwork his position generated, but he set it aside when Meredith arrived. “You’re alone?” he asked, one eyebrow raised.

“The others were busy with their own things. You said you didn’t have news, so I didn’t want to disturb them.” Meredith had fallen into the not-quite parade rest he usually used when they were alone.

“I see.” He signed another piece of paperwork before setting the pile aside. “Do you know why you’re here?”

“Couldn’t say, Captain.”

“Really? No idea at all? No thoughts on why I might have called you in here to talk to me today?”

Meredith was looking fixedly over his shoulder. “No, Captain.”

“Let me spell it out for you, then.” He sorted through his paperwork until he found the sheet he wanted. “You recognise this?”

Meredith glanced at it. “It’s a response test.”

“It’s your response test. Do you notice anything about it?”

“Captain…”

“Your responses, to the crystal intended to power your transformation, are sitting about halfway between baseline and the rest of your team.”

“I know they -”

“I’ve respected your decision not to tell your team this,” Captain went on, “because there was reason to believe you might catch up to them; evidence from other Rangers suggests that that can happen. We’re running out of time now, though.”

Meredith met his gaze. “It’s an asteroid.”

Captain shook his head slowly. “It’s not an asteroid.”

“Khotsu has picked up dozens of objects in the last few years. They’ve always been asteroids.”

“It’s not an asteroid. It’s extrasolar, it’s mostly hollow, and the sonar returns say it’s metal. We’re sending a probe, but the assumption at the moment is that the Kimered are on the way.”

“That’s the kind of thing my team needs to know about, Captain!” Meredith leaned on the desk, glaring at him. “Why would you keep that from us?”

“The probe will return the results within the next few hours. If this turns out not to be the Kimered, your team will not have been worried. If it is them, we still have more than two days before they’re in range of Earth.”

“How do we know what their range is?”

“We have extrapolated it from the data we were given.” Captain leaned back in his chair, studying Meredith. “You’ve strayed from the topic.”

“What topic is that?”

“The topic is your low responses to the Crystal.”

Meredith straightened up as his hand went to his pocket, but he didn’t actually reach inside. “Unless you plan to promote the Red from Team Two, Captain…”

“That’s not currently in the plan, but I’m not ruling it out.” Captain leaned forward, holding his gaze. “Convince me.”

“Captain…” Meredith sighed, eyes closing briefly. “All the lecturers we’ve had, all the old Rangers who have been our Senseis, they have all said the same thing. _Trust your instincts. Believe in yourself. The Power will help you if you allow it to._ I have always known, always, that my purpose is to protect other people. It’s what I was made for. The only thing I’ve ever wanted to do. The Crystal does respond to me, and it will allow me to help people. I have never doubted that.”

“There are very few people in the world with that kind of self-belief, Meredith. What if you fail?”

“The Power won’t let that happen, Captain.” He clearly believed it, eyes shining as he spoke.

Captain sighed. “There was no stronger response when we ran testing for your group. It wasn’t until we tested again for Team Two that we even realised a stronger response was possible. I don’t want to replace you. Your team works well together. But if I need to, Meredith, I will. Earth’s safety comes before anything else.”

“I swore the oath, Captain.” Meredith sounded vaguely insulted. “If it comes to it, I’ll stand down. But it won’t happen.”

Captain steepled his fingers. “Do you want to be a Power Ranger, Meredith?”

“What have I just been -”

He cut him off with a firm hand movement. “No. Do you _want_ to be a Power Ranger.”

“I want to help people -”

“Do you want to be a _Power Ranger_.”

There was a long, long silence. Captain kept eye contact with Meredith, ignoring the rapid change in facial expression.

“It’s not...what I imagined myself doing,” Meredith said finally, folding his arms. “But it is the best way to help people. And I am good at it.”

“You are,” Captain agreed. “Top of just about all your classes, always engaged, always willing to go the extra mile. Your team love you...and you hate it all.”

“I don’t hate it.” Meredith had pulled back, remote. Captain grimaced mentally; he’d pushed too hard. “I don’t even dislike it. I’m grateful for the chance to help people like this.”

Captain nodded briskly. “Very well. We expect confirmation from the probe in the next few hours. Tomorrow morning, I’ll call your team in. At that point, either you’ll tell them the truth or I will. I will be taking their reactions into account when deciding who our Red Ranger will be.”

“Team Two’s Red is four years younger than me,” Meredith murmured.

“So is your Blue. Sensei Stewart would tell you that doesn’t have to be a problem. So would Sensei Shiba; half his team were older than him.”

Meredith very clearly discarded several answers to that. “Is that all, sir?”

“That’s it for now. I’ll see you in the morning.”

“Yes, sir. Thank you.” He turned on his heel and strode out.

Captain watched him go. Meredith’s hand dropped to his pocket again, but he still didn’t reach into it. Any of the others would have been holding their Crystal by now.

He sighed, turning back to his paperwork. There was plenty to do before the probe’s results came through.


	2. Chapter 2

Meredith avoided the girls for the evening by helping Clive with the TV. He wasn’t trusted with any of the difficult work, of course; mostly he carried and fetched and let Clive tell him everything he was doing. It didn’t make much sense to him, but Clive was enthralled, and he had to be reminded several times to pack up and head for bed.

The girls had already gone down to their bedrooms; Meredith walked Clive to his room, to make sure he wouldn’t double back for ‘one more thing’, and headed to his own. Alone, he reached into his pocket and pulled out his keyring.

The shiny black crystal hung from it. He tapped it with one finger, feeling the familiar shiver of Power skating across his skin. It was identical to Earth Hematite, just as Carly’s was identical to Rose Quartz and Ran’s was identical to Tiger’s Eye, but the Power they held…

He slept holding it that night and woke from confused dreams of shouting and chasing. His WrisTech was flashing the meeting notice; he was almost late already, he noted without moving. He should be getting up; the others wouldn’t think this was anything strange as long as he acted normally. They were often called to meet with Captain or one of the endless round of Senseis.

He got up, eventually, with just enough time to wash up and get dressed. He grabbed a slice of toast on his way through the kitchen and met the others out on the front porch. “Ready?”

“Where did you go yesterday?” Carly asked, frowning at the toast.

“Helped Clive with his television.” He bit into the toast to keep her from asking more questions, heading towards headquarters. The others fell in behind him, chatting idly as they walked.

They knew. They had to. He wasn’t acting right. But none of them said anything. They just kept in step with him, chatting around him without expecting him to join in.

He paused in the corridor leading to Captain’s office. “One second. I just want to talk to someone.” The others went in, Carly waited by the door, and Meredith hurried to catch up to one of the workers. “Suppo? Hey, Suppo!”

“Busy, recruit!” Suppo called back, marking his clipboard as he walked.

“I’ve been here ten years!”

“Still a recruit until you move up! What do you want? You know I can’t get you any more candy.”

“It’s not that. I just wanted…” He dodged two workers, finally catching up to Suppo. “Did you get Clive that television?”

Suppo shrugged. “Taking up space in my storerooms.”

“A forty year old television was taking up space in your twelve year old storeroom, on this twelve year old city?”

“What’s your point, recruit?”

Meredith shook his head. “He liked it, that’s all. It was a nice thing to do.”

“Taking up space,” he repeated firmly. “Now I have work to do, if you’re quite finished wasting my time?”

“Yes, sir. Thank you.” Meredith turned and went back to join Carly.

“Everything ok?” she asked, glancing curiously after Suppo.

“Fine. Just a quick message. Let’s go in.”

Carly shook her head at Ran’s look, sliding into place at Meredith’s shoulder. Whatever was bothering him, he clearly hadn’t told her, and she couldn’t have figured out how to ask yet. She would, though. Ran had faith in her.

“Thank you all for coming,” Captain said briskly. “I have news from Khotsu. As you know, they’ve been tracking an object thought to be an asteroid.”

Maria tensed. “Thought to be?”

Captain nodded slowly. “The object is mostly hollow, and made of metal. We are quite certain it’s the Kimered.”

Ran stared at him, sure she’d misheard. “It’s...what?”

“It’s the Kimered,” he repeated patiently. “We have a few days to prepare. As of this morning, you are active. We’ll have the ceremony this afternoon.”

There was a lot more talking. Ran heard all of it, but most of it didn’t penetrate. It was mostly about logistics and moving to Khotsu and making public appearances, and none of that was her department.

“One last thing,” Captain said, and his tone drew her attention.

“Hang on,” Maria interrupted. “You’re not surprised, McKay.”

Ran lifted her head to look at him, taking a step to the side. He certainly didn’t seem surprised, but maybe she’d missed something…

“Did you know?” Clive asked. Good. Meredith was more likely to answer him than anyone else.

Meredith grimaced. “Last night, Captain told me they had suspicions.”

“And I ordered him not to tell you,” Captain added.

They ignored him, closing the circle around Meredith. “You knew this might happen and you didn’t tell us?” Ran knew she sounded betrayed, but she couldn't help it. She _felt_ betrayed.

“If it wasn’t them…”

“Then what? Nothing would change!”

He shook his head, looking back at Captain. “This afternoon?”

“That’s not what we’re discussing right now,” Captain started.

“It sure isn’t,” Maria agreed hotly. “Is that the only thing you’re keeping from us, Meredith?”

Meredith flinched violently - so did Carly; Maria never used his real name - but shook his head. “No. It’s not.”

“It’s not? I see.” The circle had reformed somehow, Maria and Ran clustered together, Clive looking confused, and Carly on Meredith’s other side. “So what else are you keeping from us? Are there other aliens coming? Are there more people joining the team? Our Sixth has turned up, has she?”

“Maria,” Carly said firmly, watching Meredith. “Give him a chance to speak.”

“Why?”

“Because he’s our leader and he deserves it.”

“ _Deserves_ it? We _deserve_ not to be lied to by our team leader!”

“I've told you it was my decision,” Captain said patiently.

“He ignores your decisions all the time. He could have ignored this one if he'd wanted to.”

“You'll like what Captain is about to tell you, them,” Meredith said, voice and face both remote and closed off. Ran closed her eyes, wishing desperately for a minute's silence. That's all she'd need, just a minute to catch up to what was happening.

Captain spoke, voice heavy. “We received the latest response tests. And in light of the imminent arrival of the Kimered, you need to know about them.”

“Why?” Clive asked. “Response tests are routine, they rarely vary more than four percent.”

“Well, that is the problem.”

“My tests show I don't respond to the Crystal,” Meredith blurted.

Into the sudden silence, he continued, “not as much as you do, anyway. My results sit about halfway between yours and normal. Captain is worried it means I won't be able to fight. He wants to move Team Two's Red up instead.”

“No,” Maria said immediately.

“You need someone who can fight -”

“We need the person we've lived and trained with for the last ten years. I'm still pissed at you,” she added when he blinked in surprise. “That doesn't mean you're not the best person for this.”

“Team Two -”

“Haven't done nearly as much training as you, haven't done _any_ training with us, and haven't - they - just no, Captain. We want Meredith.”

“And while that is important, so is the protection of this planet,” Captain said evenly. “That has to come above all other considerations.”

“Have you asked him to morph?” Clive asked.

Captain started to answer, blinked, and shook his head. “No..”

“That might answer the question.”

“We're not supposed to morph until we need to,” Meredith reminded him. “Escalation. It's in the rules.”

“You're not going to be fighting anything.”

“It might not work if I don't need to.”

Maria blinked. “Are you afraid it won't work at all? That's not like you.”

“No!” Too loud, too urgent, and he saw them realise it. “It's not -”

“Captain!” Sensei Shiba was at the door, gaze skimming over them all before landing on Captain. “Urgent news from Khotsu, sir.”

“Can this wait?”

“No. Something has separated from the pod and is coming this way, very quickly.”

Captain rose from his seat. “How quickly?”

“If you want a ceremony, it has to be now. Otherwise we're out of time. Landfall’s projected in just over an hour.”

Captain sighed, pushing to his feet. “Very well. Rangers, to the press room, please.” Meredith started to speak and he shook his head. “Out of time. We can't throw a novice Red into a fight with a team he doesn't know if we have any other option. Let's just hope this works out alright.”

“It will,” Meredith said firmly. “Let's go, team.”

_Int Hálà City Press Room - Day_

_The Rangers are aligned on a stage beneath banners of themselves. Captain is at a podium, giving a speech about the history of the programme and how dedicated the Rangers are. The speech continues under_

_The Rangers, outwardly listening but a lot of sidewards glancing and deep thinking_

_Sensei Shiba, watching his tablet and signalling Captain to hurry up_

_A hastily gathered audience of City workers and residents, not quite sure what's happening but cheering where signaled_

_Captain's speech winds down and the Rangers all palm their Crystals. Reactions make it clear they're warm in hand. Meredith stares intently at his._

_CAPTAIN  
And so, for the first time, I give you your Rangers! Shield Force!_

_They're practised. They know what to do. The movements come naturally, fed from the Crystals. Bright light floods the room as the Rangers morph._

_The Rangers move, looking at their new uniforms, testing the fit. The audience are cheering and applauding, Captain looks proud. It’s a happy scene._

_Until they realise Meredith hasn’t morphed. He’s just standing there, staring at his stone, betrayal shimmering in his eyes._


End file.
